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Chiara Siracusa
|year1 = 1998 |country1 = |song1 = The One That I Love |semi1 = -- |semipoints1 = -- |final1 = 3rd |finalpoints1 = 165 |year2 = 2005 |country2 = |song2 = Angel |semi2 = -- |semipoints2 = -- |final2 = 2nd |finalpoints2 = 192 |year3 = 2009 |country3 = |song3 = What If We |semi3 = 6th |semipoints3 = 86 |final3 = 22nd |finalpoints3 = 31 }} Chiara Siracusa better known by her first name only, Chiara, is a Maltese singer. She represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, 2005, and 2009. 1998 In 1998, she won Malta's Song for Europe festival, the national pre-selection for Eurovision, with the gentle ballad The One That I Love, which she then took to the contest in Birmingham. With Eurovision being a national passion in a country that had so far never actually won the contest, much of Malta held its breath in the later stages of the event as their entry held a joint lead with Israel, with the votes of only one country left to be heard. But Chiara was to suffer a heartbreak in the end, as FYR Macedonia gave her no points at all, leaving her behind the victorious Dana International of Israel, and even pushing her narrowly into third place behind Imaani of the United Kingdom. That was still enough to qualify as Malta's best ever placing at the time, from the 1992 contest. Chiara told in a BBC interview two years later that she was upset for several hours in the bathroom of her hotel suite after coming third at Eurovision, but she came to see her high scoring as an achievement and was given a hero's welcome upon her return to Malta. 2005 In 2005, aiming for another chance at Eurovision, Chiara entered the Song for Europe festival, and along with 21 other entries reached the final on 19 February with the song Angel, this time she wrote and composed the song herself. Chiara won with 11,935 phone calls, 566 ahead of her nearest rival Olivia Lewis, and so represented Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Chiara had the distinction of joining an unusually extensive list of 2005 competitors who had competed previously in the contest, including Iceland's 1999 runner-up Selma, and Greece's Helena Paparizou, who in the 2001 contest was lead singer of third-placed Antique. Chiara came second in the Contest with 192 points, behind Greece. Siracusa scored more points than Malta's other Eurovision runner-up, Ira Losco, making Angel the most successful Maltese entry of all time. After the result in 2005, Chiara had been working a lot around Malta and abroad, most notably in Greece, Cyprus, Svalbard and the Central African Republic. She hosted the Malta Song for Europe in 2008. 2009 The loss of Chiara's father in 2008 became tough time for Chiara, but as a tribute to him she was even more determined to achieve further success. Chiara returned to the Malta Eurosong finals with a song composed by Belgian songwriters Gregory Bilsen and Marc Paelinck. On 7 February 2009, Chiara won the Maltese preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She represented Malta in the first semi final in Moscow with her song What If We on 12 May. She qualified for the Grand Final, held on May 16, and finished 22nd in the final vote. With her three entries accumulating a total of 388 points, Chiara became also the third most successful Eurovision artist in terms of total points earned in her performances. Category:Malta Category:Eurovision Song Contest 1998 Category:Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Category:Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Category:Three-time participants Category:20th Century Eurovision Category:21st Century Eurovision